Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Homemade Graham Crackers

I finally made homemade graham crackers for the first time and LOVED them. I may never buy the commercial ones again--okay, well, maybe for using the crumbs to make a crust or something, but I just may have to try a crust using homemade sometime, too! I just don't like how everything you buy has hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup and all the other stuff we can't even pronounce.

I ran across these homemade graham crackers, actually when Maria at Two Peas and Their Pod (how cute and talented is she!) posted them back in November of last year. I had them in mind to make since then. Taylor was up for snack at preschool a few days ago and I decided it would be a great time to finally make the graham crackers. I made some changes to Maria's recipe, but not many. I think it is a great homemade graham cracker. Instead of whole wheat flour, I used some graham flour that I have and instead of sugar I used evaporated cane juice sugar. It worked great! Here is the recipe as I made them. Thanks, Maria. I can't wait to try them as S'mores sometime! I cut mine a bit thick and may try them a little thinner next time. I really liked the nuttiness from the graham flour. I sprinkled them with a cinnamon/sugar mix before baking.

HOMEMADE GRAHAM CRACKERS

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

2 cups graham flour (whole wheat is fine)

1/4 cup evaporated cane juice sugar (regular sugar is fine)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon molasses

1/4 cup water (may need a little more--I used another tablespoonful)

In bowl of food processor, combine flours, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Pulse a few times. Add the cold butter and pulse until texture is dry and crumbly.

In a separate bowl, mix together the honey, molasses and water. Add to food processor and blend together until it forms a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll the dough out on a well floured surface (I used all purpose).Roll the dough out pretty thin and cut with cookie cutters or cut into rectangles. Make fork marks in the dough. Transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment paper (that's what I use, just a baking sheet would work fine). You could sprinkle these with sugar or cinnamon/sugar before baking.

Bake for 11-14 minutes until golden and crisp. This recipe made 19 3 1/2 inch hearts.

Taylor wanted to be in a picture since these were for his school snack. Silly! Stay tuned, I made some chocolate graham crackers today--with a nutty little twist!

Parker has been home from school "sick" for the last two days. What's up with just having a fever, that's it, nothing else? Should he be at school? So rather annoying because he's not really "sick". So, we've been spending some "quality" time together. Okay, I LOVE Parker to death. When he was three and still not really saying very many words, we were a little concerned and had him start preschool where they worked with him a bit on speech and well, since then, he NEVER stops talking. I mean--never. As we were walking through the store today, he seriously never went 10 seconds without saying something, and you know, it's usually really important things like, "can I have this?" "can I have that?"............non-stop! Enough beef about that, I really just wanted to post this picture of Parker because well, while the incident was somewhat funny, Parker concluded by saying "can you take a picture of me and put it on your blog?"

Earlier today Parker decided he wanted an apple. I cut it up for him and told him to get a cup for it. In one of the kitchen drawers are all sizes of cups, emptied and washed containers that had sour cream, parmesan cheese, Pringles, fruit cups, etc. Parker happened to pick a huge apple and while I was cutting it up got a cup to put the slices in. Of all the choices, he picked the smallest cup and was trying to carry his apples in this. We (Parker, Taylor and I) got quite the laugh out of it. Silly!

Does this kid look sick to you?

After the apple incident, Taylor wanted a picture taken of him with his apple, too. Exciting, I know. Try homemade graham crackers!

What a clever idea making homemade Graham crackers! I'm not much a fan of hydrogenated oils and corn syrup either, so this is a must-try! Let me know how your crust comes out if you try it with these. Can't wait for the chocolate ones!

Those look just like the Trader Joe's graham crackers, delicious! For some reason I always shy away from making any sort of crackers, I always figure they're just easier to buy but these graham crackers are much more enticing...

I'll have to bookmark these. The graham flour sounds so good, but I don't know where I could put another flour. Adorable boys! I'm not sure you want to hear it, but he does sort of look like he 'fever eyes'...Nancy

These graham crackers are great. We loved them and my guests were impressed. Who wouldn've thought you can make graham crackers at home? My husband is one of four boys so we can relate to the premise of your blog! : ) Please check out my recipes and see if there's anything you like: http://vespawoolf.hubpages.com/.

CindyN, graham flour is like whole wheat flour, so that would work. If you don't have access to either, I'm pretty sure many have made them with all purpose flour, they just don't have those little bits of graham/grain in them like traditional graham crackers do.

I just made these tonight (found this on Pinterest), and they turned out pretty good. The nuttiness of Graham flour sounds good to me, but I couldn't find it. I just used whole wheat flour and it worked, but does anyone know where I can find Graham flour?

Angela Mills, the graham flour I have is the brand Hodgson Mills. I don't remember where I got it, but I've had a bag of it for about 3 years (keep it in the freezer). I think it is just randomly found in some grocery stores.

I don't have a food processor (really need to get one, but no more room for stuff) is there another way to mix them up that will work? Thanks! My kiddos love graham crackers and we try to avoid HFCS like the plague!

Thanks for the recipe. I live in Australia and whenever I have a recipe that requires Graham crackers - I don't know what to have instead as we don't have Graham crackers here. Now I know! They look delicious!

Thank you for the receipe! I tried these at home today, because we don't have Graham Crackers in Germany. (We don't have graham flour as well, but I used whole spelt flour) I always wanted to try them, after reading "cheaper by the dozen" (by Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey), which I read as a child. So, now, maybe 25 years later, I finally had one, and I like them :-)

Also interested if you need a food processor or just regular old spoon. I made these tonight and the texture was off, they werent cruncy like a cracker. How much water did you use, i ended up using a lot more than 1/4 of a cup.

Roslyn, I just made these again the other day and as printed in the recipe, only used 1 tablespoon extra of water.The reason to do it in a food processor is that the butter is "cut-in" like a pie crust, which you could do with a fork. It is just harder since you use cold butter. For that first part, cutting in the butter, I would use a fork or a pastry blender.

Delish!!! I love these and I will be making them soon! I am featuring them today in my 12 healthier recipes post. Here is the feature- http://www.susieqtpiescafe.com/2013/03/12-healthier-lifestyle-healthy-recipes.html

Can you please please tell me where you found graham flour? What brand is it? I cannot find any locally, and have a few graham recipes I want to try! thanks for your help!Marcia :o)marcia@quilterscache.com

I'm an American living in Italy and I can't find graham crackers here, only digestive biscuits. It's a good substitute but just not the same. I'm so happy I found your recipe. I can't wait to give these a try! I have just started a blog and would love if you could check it out. Jennifersadventureincooking.blogspot.com.

So I mixed these up last night and put it to chill for one hour, but due to an emergency, I didn't get to roll them out. 12 hours later, the dough seems kind of dry, and doesn't want to roll out. Any advice? Should I add some water and work it in? Thanks!

These look yummy! Any thoughts on using agave instead of the sugar and applesauce or yogurt instead of oil? Just curious if anyone thought either of these ideas would work or how they would adjust measurements.

Hi, thanks for posting this recipe, my son is addicted to graham crackers! He's constantly eating them. Any idea how long they stay good for? I would like to make a lot, but don't want them to go bad. Have you ever froze them? or did you just keep them in a air tight container? Thanks. :)

I just found this on Pinterest and made them today. The kids and I loved them!I did not need to use a food processor, cutting in the butter worked just fine with a pastry cutter, or a couple of butter knives. Next time I won't be afraid to roll them thinner, add they do rise a bit during baking, and I like the thin cracker best. Taste and texture were just right, and I was surprised how easy the recipe was to make! I will be making these a lot from here on out!

I just researched graham flour. It really is just whole wheat...meaning all the endosperm, bran and germ. It may originally have been milled or stone ground in a certain way but it doesn't contain anything different. I may try adding just a bit more wheat germ/ bran to my good whole wheat flour. It is an interesting story...Dr. Graham trying to tell people after the industrial revolution that whole foods are better...don't use bleached white flour! He was way before his time.

I just made these and these are very yummy. I substituted a cup of oat flour for 1 cup of whole wheat flour and added chia seeds and wheat germ. I also used 2 tbsp reg sugar and 2 tbsp coconut sugar to cut down the amount of refined suger for the 1/4 cup of suger. I'm making these for my picky 3 year old. Thanks for the recipe!!!